"’I am not the person that will fuel hate": Coco Gauff has come out in defence of Aryna Sabalenka ahead of Wimbledon

America’s Coco Gauff has come out in defence of Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka after receiving criticism for her comments after the defeat in the final of the French Open. Gauff defeated the reigning world number one to lift the Roland Garros title for the first time in her career.

After the defeat, Sabalenka made a controversial remark, blaming herself for the loss instead of giving credit to Gauff. "I think she won the match not because she played incredible, but because I made all those mistakes," she said back then.

Sabalenka later apologised for the comments she made after the final and stated that she regrets having made those comments. "That was just completely unprofessional of me. I let my emotions get the better of me,” she said while talking to Eurosport Germany in an interview published on June 17th. "I absolutely regret what I said back then. You know, we all make mistakes. I’m just a human being who’s still learning in life. I think we all have those days when we lose control. The difference with me is, the world is watching. I get a lot more hate for what I did than other people."

Gauff and Sabalenka both featured in a recent video promoting Wimbledon 2025. The third Grand Slam of the year will begin on Monday in London. Ahead of her tournament opener, Gauff spoke to the media and came out in defence of Sabalenka. Gauff stated that Sabalenka’s critics took the matter a bit ‘too far’. "I’m not the person that will fuel hate in the world,” she said. “I think people were taking it too far. It was just really targeting and saying a lot of things that I felt were not nice. I didn’t want to fuel that more.”

Gauff will begin her campaign with the match against Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine on Tuesday. On the other hand, Sabalenka will start her tournament against Canada’s Carson Branstine on Monday.